Building Together
1 Corinthians 3:1-11[1]
Anyone who has ever
taken on a home renovation project knows that it’s rarely a job for one person
alone. Most of us simply don’t have the skills to do everything that needs to
be done once you started pulling up the linoleum and tearing down the sheetrock.
There’s always something underneath the surface of things that winds up taking
three times longer than you thought you’d need for the whole project! For me it
was trying to turn a “Texas Lanai” into an indoor room. For those of you who
don’t know what a “Lanai” is, it’s a kind of enclosed sunroom that actually
sits on the ground. It was only after we had started the demolition that we
discovered the concrete slab underneath was sloped toward the middle, like a
drain. What a headache!
I think that we’re always
involved in some form of “renovation” in the church.[2] The way things keep
changing in society makes it a challenge just to keep up, let alone try to
grow. These days it can feel like everything we do is vital to the survival of
our church. That’s a lot of stress for anyone to take on. It’s a good thing
that we in the Reformed tradition believe that ministry is something we all
share together. I shudder to think what would happen if everything we did as a
church was my responsibility. But even more importantly, it’s not even our
responsibility together. Because, at the end of the day, building this or any
other church isn’t something we do at all, it’s God’s work. We are all called
to be partners in that work, but any growth that may come will be the result of
what God is doing in and through us.
I think Paul was
addressing shared ministry in our lesson from 1 Corinthians for today. As I
mentioned last week, the Apostle Paul had founded the church at Corinth. After
he had moved on, other teachers came and some of them were helpful, while
others were not. A teacher named Apollos was one of the helpful ones. There
were others who apparently thought they had more authority than Paul because
they claimed to come from Cephas, or Peter. As a result, people in the church
became confused about how they were supposed to live their lives together in
Christian community. They were divided by their loyalties to different teachers,
and the factions troubling the congregation. They seemed to be arguing among
themselves about who was following Christ best!
But Paul redirected
the conflict. He embraced Apollos as a partner in ministry, although we don’t
know whether they ever actually met in person. But Apollos worked with
Priscilla and Aquila, who had worked with Paul. For that reason Paul could
embrace the ministry of Apollos among the Corinthians as a fellow-worker. And
so he could say to them, “After all, what is Apollos? What is Paul? They are
servants who helped you to believe” (1 Cor 3:5, CEB). They were both equally
serving the church by carrying out the role that had been “given to them by the
Lord.” By embracing Apollos as a partner in ministry, Paul was modelling the
kind of shared ministry he encouraged them to practice among themselves.
But Paul made it clear
that the real basis for growth—any growth—in the church is the work of God.
That’s why Paul could say that “I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it
grow” (1 Cor 3:6 CEB). He was careful not to take any credit for the
work that God had been doing through him and Apollos in the church at Corinth. He
says, “neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but the
only one who is anything is God who makes it grow” (1 Cor 3:7 CEB). It
comes as no surprise then, when Paul addresses this issue later in 1
Corinthians, that he emphasizes that what matters is working “for the common
good” of the body of Christ, the church (1 Cor 12:7). One facet of “shared
ministry” is that we work together for the good of the Body of Christ.
Paul also emphasizes
in that section of 1 Corinthians that the only way that will happen in any
congregation is if everyone is working together. And so Paul teaches the people
in Corinth that each member of the church has a “gift of
the Spirit” with which to serve others (1 Cor 12:4-6 GNT). He says that
“there are different kinds of spiritual gifts,” but they all come from the same
Spirit. He says that there are “different ways of serving,” but it is the same
Lord that we serve. He says that “we all have different abilities,” but it is
the same God who works in and through all of us. Another facet of “shared
ministry” is to recognize that we are all called by God to share in the work of
this church by using the gifts that the Spirit has given us. I know some of you
may be thinking “I don’t have any gifts that can be useful to the church.” But St.
Paul the Apostle insists that
you do. I think it’s just a matter of recognizing that what you can do for the
church is your “gift of the Spirit”!
Paul went further and
instructed the believers at Corinth that if they wanted to join in the work of
building up the Body of Christ, they had to build on the right foundation, and
they had to do it carefully. The foundation upon which to build up any church
is Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor 3:11). After all, he is the only true head of
this or any other church. And only as we align our designs with his purpose
will this church thrive. A further facet of “shared ministry” is that we are all
following Jesus Christ, who said “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). The
only “agenda” that will enable this or any other church to thrive is the one
set by Jesus Christ.
We are all working to build
up this church together. That’s important. The more people we have helping out,
the more this church will thrive. Today we recognize that by installing new
elders and deacons. But you don’t have to serve on a committee, a board, or
even on the session to help with the work of building up our church. This
church will grow as we all join together, doing what we can do to the best of
our ability, recognizing that we are all “God’s coworkers,” using the gifts and
talents God has given us to build this church. But ultimately the growth of
this church is a bigger job than any one person can accomplish. At the end of
the day, if this church grows, it will happen because Jesus is building his
church. We will grow because God, who is able to do “far more than we could
ever ask for or imagine” (Eph 3:20, NIrV), has given the growth!
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